It was quite certain that France would fail with Raymond Domenech. We can easily say that nothing positive about him. He did not only fail with the team but also caused serious relationship problems with the squad. Anelka was sent to France before the third game and Patrice Evra was not in the starting line up. Besides, Gourcuff made it harder by being sent off in the first half. It was an expected result for the football society in France. Uruguay qualified for the second round by beating Mexico in the last game and finished the group stage in the first line. Mexico was the other team to qualify despite their loss.

Referee Oscar Ruiz of Colombia shows the red card to France’s Yoann Gourcuff (C) during their 2010 World Cup Group A soccer match against South Africa at Free State stadium in Bloemfontein June 22, 2010. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

The other desperate losers of the campaign were Italy and Switzerland. The champion of 2006 had lack of organization on the pitch and they had quite difficulty in finding the goal scoring positions. Ankaragücü player Vittek ended Italy’s dreams by scoring two goals. Switzerland started the cup with the magnificent win over Spain but they were defeated by Chile and in the last game they were held to a draw by Honduras.

Spain’s Andres Iniesta celebrates after scoring against Chile during a 2010 World Cup Group H match at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria June 25, 2010. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

ROUNDUP

from Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology ? A Group Blog by mdurington

Agony. Pure unadulterated agony. If you just watched the USA squeak by Algeria as I just did you know what I mean. I wanted to wait to see if the USA qualified to advance before this second post to determine my authorial sentiment from this point on. Hope lives for the USA. (Please excuse my bias once more?it?s just been a long time coming to not be embarrassed on the world stage)

Paraguay is playing New Zealand in the World Cup for their opportunity to make it to the second round. The blog Rescatar [es] reports that buses that are normally packed in the morning were empty today; and, although productivity is down, everyone is hopeful about the result.

When Mexico scored against France in faraway Polokwane, the blaring noise of vuvuzelas was merely the background to the joyful screams and cheers that filled the open garden of the elegant Azure restaurant in Ramallah. My Palestinian friends sitting round the table responded to my question as to why on earth Mexico enjoyed such massive support by saying it had to do more with Nicolas Sarkozy and his alignment with Israel rather than any admiration of Mexican football. A few years ago, one elaborated further, France was a football favourite of Palestinians, but that was when Jacques Chirac was the country?s president and Zinedine Zidane (born of an Algerian family) its star player.

Algerians went from hope to disillusion as they realized that patriotism alone isn’t enough to win football matches. Indeed, their dreams were dashed on Wednesday in Pretoria, South Africa, when the U.S. soccer team beat them at the FIFA World Cup by 1 goal to nil, hence eliminating them from the competition.

Algerian bloggers have been commenting on the defeat, like Aberrahmane who writes [Fr]:

Mavi Boncuk Germany trembles to the knockout stages
In the deciding game in Group D shoots Mesut Özil the 1-0 win over Ghana – and saves the entry of Germany into the fourth round , where it meets England.